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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Student Reflection

by Nicole Mathes

Garden Hills Elementary School

This
year I chose to volunteer in the Champaign-Urbana community at Garden Hills
Elementary School in Champaign. I have previously volunteered at Garden Hills
Elementary with the SOAR tutoring program and was a tutor in the second, third,
and fourth grade classrooms. Based on the experiences that I had with each
grade, I decided to work in the third grade bilingual classroom. Even though I
volunteered with SOAR for two years, I now realize that I did not have a full
understanding or appreciation for the staff at Garden Hills. I was never able
to see the teachers or faculty members “in action” since SOAR operates after
school. Sure, I respected them like any other teacher, but now, after seeing
what a typical day is like at Garden Hills (or rather, how there is no such
thing as a normal day), I have come to have a much deeper appreciation for
them. Garden Hills Elementary school is one of three sites for gifted programs,
has a large focus on bilingual education and instruction, and strives for the
students to obtain intercultural understanding and respect. Their mission is to
engage and empower students “through a rigorous, internationally-minded,
inquiry-based curriculum in order to become independent, life-long learners
well-equipped to thrive and contribute within local and global communities.”

As
I have witnessed, the teachers work very hard to try and carry out the school’s
mission. Some of the students are more challenging than others and require a
lot of individual attention; this is especially difficult when you have a class
of 25 other students. I work in Ms. Perez’s third-grade bilingual classroom.
The students in her classroom are all Hispanic, which means that she uses
Spanish the majority of the time. The students are also at different academic
levels. Some students have learning disabilities, some just need more
individual attention, others are at age-appropriate academic levels, and others
are a little bit above. My role in the classroom is to serve as a kind of
teacher’s aide. Specifically, I work to improve the students’ reading
comprehension, develop better writing skills, and understand math concepts. Ms.
Perez typically sends students with me to a little alcove in the hallway to
work.

So
far I am really enjoying my time at Garden Hills and am grateful to be exposed
to “real” Spanish being used in the community! I am looking forward to the rest
of my time at this school.